Miami Open, ATP Masters 1000, 2019

[the AntiPusher]

Hope to watch a good Roger-Shapo match and much better than this last one and I think we will see it, the Canadian seems to be very motived

I like other younger Canadian better. Fed is going to demonstrate how the game of tennis is properly played

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

If Shapo plays within himself, he sure has a shot against Roger. He has power, he has the lefty forehand to attack Roger's backhand and he has the nice DTL backhand. It will be an interesting one.
I have not seen Roger at all today. It would be nice if someone who watched give a breakdown.

 

[Carol]

I like other younger Canadian better. Fed is going to demonstrate how the game of tennis is properly played

Federer is playing well, no doubts about it but if the Canadian plays with some confidence I think he could give Roger a hard time. But something I don’t like too much of Shapo is that he plays too accelerated and doesn’t have too much control so I wouldn’t be surprised if he would lose easily. And yeah, I like more Felix too

 

[kskate2]

Shap's mom coaches w/ hand signals. ESPN caught her 3 times today on camera. No warning was called.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I too think it will be a good match between Fed and Shapo. Shapo has some chances, I will admit.

Shapo's lefty serve (with wicked angles) will take some time to get used. Expect Fed to struggle on ROS.

On the negative side, Shapo often overcooks his shots from wining position due to lack of poise. If he does
it too much, he could go down very fast also.

p.s. I still could not believe that Fed lost to Kandy in Wimby.

 

[mrzz]

I'm not sure I agree with what you seem to think it takes to become a great player. The very very top players have a natural level that far exceeds the rest of the field. Yes they have spectacular shots when playing in attacking mode, but what sets them apart is what they do in "won't lose mode". How many times have we watched Roger spray shots around in so called attacking mode but somehow gut his way out of the match? Yes the Big 3 have set plays that are almost unstoppable, if you hit the ball short they put points away almost automatically. But that stuff isn't "attacking mode". That's them executing their basic put away shots. Now if you are saying that FAA is not executing put away shots efficiently then that's one thing. But winning by attacking is by no means a pre-requisite to sit at the prolific winners table. Perhaps you can elaborate...

Good points. To answer I need to make a distinction between "going for winners" and "playing aggressively". You can play aggressively, either with pace, net rushes, angles, or variation, and still not go for winners in every shot. This is also something that the big 3 excels on (each in his own way), and most young players are not even capable to grasp the difference between this and "going for winners". The art of it consists in when, and how often, you go from "aggressive mode" to "winners mode".

My point is that if you want to be a top 5 player you must have a very solid "aggressive mode" to begin with, and obviously don go all the time to an inefificient "winners mode". There is a mental part to it that comes with experience, but the ability and talent to have a solid aggressive mode is not a mere question of experience.

 

[isabelle]

great for Shapo, hope he can reach final

 

[Federberg]

I too think it will be a good match between Fed and Shapo. Shapo has some chances, I will admit.

Shapo's lefty serve (with wicked angles) will take some time to get used. Expect Fed to struggle on ROS.

On the negative side, Shapo often overcooks his shots from wining position due to lack of poise. If he does
it too much, he could go down very fast also.

p.s. I still could not believe that Fed lost to Kandy in Wimby.

I heard he was very put out by being sent to No1 Court. I'm conflicted on that. I think he should have had at least one match there before the quarters. You can't play on Centre Court all the time. But at the same time this is the stuff lesser players have to deal with... playing on courts they're not used to

 

[Federberg]

Good points. To answer I need to make a distinction between "going for winners" and "playing aggressively". You can play aggressively, either with pace, net rushes, angles, or variation, and still not go for winners in every shot. This is also something that the big 3 excels on (each in his own way), and most young players are not even capable to grasp the difference between this and "going for winners". The art of it consists in when, and how often, you go from "aggressive mode" to "winners mode".

My point is that if you want to be a top 5 player you must have a very solid "aggressive mode" to begin with, and obviously don go all the time to an inefificient "winners mode". There is a mental part to it that comes with experience, but the ability and talent to have a solid aggressive mode is not a mere question of experience.

I'm not sure there's enough evidence that he won't be able to manage the balance between the two. He seems to be evolving his game on a week to week basis. Let's see how it goes over the next two months

 

[the AntiPusher]

Shap's mom coaches w/ hand signals. ESPN caught her 3 times today on camera. No warning was called.

Maybe if the player was female, 5'10 and was a 23 grand slam titles holder...

It appears someone tip the umpire that Patrick was giving signals ..which he confessed but Serena's implosion was totally unnecessary..that's Patrick's fault not hers

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

anyone see federers match v medvedev ?..so accurate, seemed like hardly any ufe's (?)..

he won 2 long rallies, of 34 and 35 shots i think (unless it was 24, and 25 shots?). ooooooof.

 

[shawnbm]

^ I was present in the stadium for that match and Federer made few UFEs--it was a very clean performance. He in one two games drove maybe three or four forehands into the net and a couple backhands into the net, but he won every long rally that I can recall and they were at least 24 shots or more. He looked sharp and calculating.

 

[Federberg]

wow... who would have thought it would be Isner struggling to hold on to his serve? Finally broken. Guys this isn't like what we felt when we first saw Shapo, Sasha, Tsitsipas or even Kyrgios. This is different gravy from this kid

 

[Federberg]

FAA re-gifts, when serving for the first set. Always a terrible habit. He's got himself a WTA ball toss and it exposed itself under pressure. He'll need to work on that.

 

[Federberg]

First Achilles heel I've seen in the boy. The rest of this match is going to be a really good test for him. Fedalovic would find a way to do it. He's clearly better than Isner in the rallies

 

[Federberg]

tie break. Got to go with the big man here

 

[Federberg]

FAA gets the mini-break

 

[Federberg]

... and re-gifts with a double fault. A lot of double faults. Is it nerves?

 

[Federberg]

Isner 2 - 1 up now. This would be a very bad set for the kid to lose. The one thing going for the kid, is that he's getting Isner involved in a lot of rallies back. I predict if he wins this set he'll run away from Isner. The big guy doesn't like to run around too much

 

[Federberg]

back on serve again. It's amazing how into Isner's serves he is. Only Djokovic and Murray do this to him